Be Careful What You Pray For

Hump Week

I did the math last week, and it turns out my mission is halfway over, and I didn't even realize it!

Every day, I feel more and more of an urgency to share the gospel. I can't believe how quickly it's gone by and how little time I have left! My love for the gospel, for my Father in heaven, and for those around me has increased exponentially, and I just want everyone to have all the amazing blessings and opportunities I'm privileged to have!

Be Careful What You Pray for

In other news, we came the closest we've ever been to having an investigator come to church... without actually having one at church.

Reno, the dad of the Johnson family, came to church.

He was here.

He was at the door!

But he didn't know which one to come in.

At 9:02, he called us, but we had silenced our phone for sacrament meeting. We called him back as soon as the meeting got out. He said he had come to the building but didn't know which door to come in, so he left. He wanted to come, but we didn't answer, and he didn't come in.

We had prayed to have the Johnsons at church.

AT church, mind you.

But he didn't come in the church.

Hence, "Be Careful What You Pray for."

We'll continue to work with the Johnsons. They are such sweet people and we're so excited to have them come to church!

Y'all, the gospel is incredible. I'm on a mission now because I want people to have it. So live it! Live it with all you've got! It will bless your life more than you even know!

Love y'all!!

Sister McKay

1. The avenues in Albany, GA. I was on exchanges.

2 & 3. Also exchanges: I got to see the original Sherwood Baptist church!

4 & 5. The minion fire hydrant that every Tifton sister has to take a picture next to.

6 & 7. A garden spider. I walked out the door, felt a huge web on my skirt, and saw this ginormous spider in the doorway. I quickly jumped out of the way of the spider, whose web was now ruined, and, while my heart was still pounding a little, took a picture of the poor guy before heading to church. It died that day, and then I accidentally stepped on it a day or two later. Needless to say, I do not like having giant spiders in my doorway or giant spider guts on my shoe.

8. A "g-sled" at Walmart. "G-sled" is short for "ghetto sled."

Ghetto sled. A very old car with very new wheels, typically found in the ghetto of the South. Or Walmart.

9. Transfer predictions! Most everyone thinks I'm leaving Tifton, and half of them think I'll be in leadership this transfer. Any guesses?

10. District picture!

11. Sister Lanigan and myself taking a random selfie in the middle of Fulwood Park. It was a hard day, and I just decided to be spontaneous.

12. Last but not least, a very odd snail Sister Lanigan found while we were out walking after a rain storm. The wildlife here never ceases to amaze me.

10-17-17 Miles to Go Before I Sleep and Promises to Keep

First, a Scripture

Doctrine and Covenants 24:12: "And at all times, and in all places, he shall open his mouth and declare my gospel as with the voice of a trump, both day and night. And I will give unto him strength such as is not known among men."

Hm. Sounds familiar.

I'm on a mission.

I go out day and night.

I'm doing my best to share the gospel with everyone I meet, wherever I go.

And then that beautiful promise at the end: "I will give unto him strength such as is not known among men."

Miles to Go Before I Sleep

Sometimes, serving a mission is hard. But I've been learning more about Christ's Atonement and what it means for me. I have been amazed at how I've been able to keep going and going every day, even when I get tired, or I miss my family and friends, or we aren't having success. Sometimes I can't believe how optimistic and hopeful I still am, even though we've been rejected over and over and experienced disappointments all day long.

Promises Kept... by God

We've started teaching this family, the Johnsons. I talked about the dad, Reno, last week. We were finally able to have another lesson with them yesterday, and they've accepted our invitation to be baptized! We're working towards December 9th, which happens to be Sister Lanigan's birthday. We've been praying so hard for them! We really hope it works out. They were a huge blessing to us since we've been working so hard lately and haven't been finding many people. God prepares people in amazing ways, and the Johnsons are so prepared to receive the gospel!

God gives us tender mercies every day, little things that remind us why we're here. Little things like those remind me why I'm on my mission.

I know God loves me. I've felt it. I feel it when I get that indescribable warm feeling when I do something or learn something good. And you can feel His love, too, if you seek for it and pray. Ask Him for that feeling of love and peace and ultimate joy. Then go live the commandments and search it out.

Love y'all!! The gospel is so true! I've never had more difficult experiences my whole life, but I've never had happier times, either! I know God is lifting me up and helping me to feel His love. That's why I'm here. To share it.

What will you do when you feel His love?

Sister McKay

Sorry there aren't any pictures with me in them!

These are both from when I went on exchange to Albany:

We got to drive by Sherwood Baptist, the people who filmed Courageous, Facing the Giants, Fireproof, etc.

And the tree tunnel!! I love trees! They're amazing!

10-10-17 Fasting Brings Blessings

(Sorry this is late. I was distracted last week by the fires in my hometown. -Sarah)

Blessings

A week and a half ago, the elders and us had a fast for our area. We had both been struggling to find people to teach.

The week before, Sister Lanigan and I had been contacting at the park (i.e., talking to everyone we see). There was a group of construction workers in the parking lot that must have been on break. We walked up and talked to all of them. It's so awkward to contact a group of people. But a couple of them took a card, and one guy, Reno, took a Restoration pamphlet. He gave us his information and told us we could come by. To be honest, we were pretty skeptical. His house was on Southside, which is the pretty ghetto part of town, and most guys down there just see us as cute young girls to flirt with, so that's the only reason they tell us to come back.

But God has a funny way of showing us that we should always have faith.

Because when we knocked on his door, his family was home, and we ended up teaching the Restoration to the whole family, setting up another appointment, and committing them to come to church. They are all excited for church, and we are so excited for them! They are so prepared to hear the gospel. Please pray for them!

Insight

Sister Lanigan and I were talking about commandments in companion study the other day. She said this:

"If you sin, you'll have momentary happiness and lasting sadness. If you keep the commandments, you may have momentary sadness at times, but you'll have lasting happiness."

My companion is the best!

Never forget that God only gives us commandments, like fasting, to help us be happy. Life isn't perfect, and sometimes things happen that are sad or hard, but God is always there to help us. It's when we keep the commandments that make it easier for Him to help us because it will be easier for us to listen to the Spirit.

Love y'all!

Sister McKay

Us at Grandaddy's! Sister Adams, a recent convert here, is to be credited for the pictures.

Time Flies

So, I hit my 8-month-mark of being on a mission yesterday.

And if you don't count the day I fly home, I have exactly 9 months and one week left on my mission.

That means I don't have much time left.

This week, we got 4 new investigators.

One of them is an Indian guy named Biyush (bee-YOOsh) who speaks only Hindi and very broken English. And because of that, we couldn't get his address. And he doesn't have a phone number. So we had to meet him at the park. And now we don't know exactly what happened to him. But we have faith! We're going to keep trying to meet him at the park. He told us he frequently gets off work at 1 and is at the park around 2, so we'll try to catch him.

Another one is named Trina. She seems like she thinks we're there to have church with her, but what we actually want is for her to come to church. We'll see where that goes.

The last two are named Sandra and Eric. Sandra is awesome. She is so sweet. Eric was talking about how he wanted to stop smoking and drinking. He's also the kind of guy to just ramble on a bit, and we're not sure where his commitment level is. We had a solid Restoration lesson with them, and we're super excited for our appointment with them Saturday. We're really hoping we can get them to church, since they don't have a car. The good news is that they live pretty close!

Keep praying for Tifton and the people here. The elders and us had a fast for the area last week, and we're starting to really see some miracles. We're working hard and praying that it keeps up!

The last 8 months being a missionary have been priceless. I wouldn't give them up for anything. Unless you've served a mission, you have no idea how much it blesses your life.

Around here, when someone asks, "How are you?" people often respond, "Ah'm blessed."

Also, please listen to Tad R. Callister's talk from the Sunday afternoon session of conference. I think it was one of my favorites. Here's a link:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/10/media/session_5_talk_4/5595013698001?lang=eng

Love y'all! Have a blessed one!

Sister McKay

Pictures:

1. The elders live in our same apartment complex, and they knew we were having a rough time lately finding people, so they kind of heart-attacked our door, missionary style, and left us a sweet note. If you can't read it, it says, "Y'all are awesome! Way to show us how it's done! Keep workin' hard! Moroni 7:29! Love y'all, The Elders" It made, like, our whole month.

2 & 3. We knocked on this one person's door, and their cows were staring at us.

4. Nobody showed up at Bible Study, so it was cancelled. Sad day!

5. Selfie craze in my GMM shirt.

6. The card the elders left in our door.